Smaller Stature Means Bigger Risk for DePuy Hip Implants

The possibility of developing the severe hip complications from DePuy implants can cause produces understandable anxiety in the tens of thousands of individuals who received the faulty devices. A certain risk was recognized before last year’s DePuy hip implant recall, but the latest studies now show that women in particular face an even greater risk of developing serious side effects which often require additional surgery.
The National Joint Registry of England and Wales recently published these disheartening findings. They determined that DePuy ASR hip implant devices with a femoral head size of 50 mm or fewer had a much higher failure rate than bigger models of the implant. The organization also stated that up to 13% of all patients who received a DePuy hip implant did in fact require revision surgery.

Odds of Failure Stacked against Small Patients

These findings from the National Joint Registry were announced shortly after a similar study was conducted at Australia’s University of Adelaide. According to their statistics, a patient’s hip measurement is directly related to the probability that he or she will suffer DePuy implant complications and require a revision surgery. It has been established that smaller patients implanted with smaller devices face the greatest risk. Thus women, who are usually smaller than men, make up a disproportionately large amount of the revision surgeries performed.

DePuy Unsurprised by Findings

Reports of increased risk for small-framed implant recipients did not contain any surprises for the manufacturer. DePuy issued a letter in March 2010 informing physicians of the substantially greater failure rate for patients who were smaller in size and/or had weaker bones. Women are more likely to fall into either or both of these categories.
Yet it was six more months before DePuy issued a recall for their faulty devices. It is impossible to determine how many small, frail female patients received a defective DePuy implant in that timeframe alone.
The defective implants both large and small are capable of causing the same spectrum of dangerous symptoms. These include dislocation of the hip implant, metal poisoning, a severe loosening of the implant, and hip implant related bone fractures. These complications usually require a revision surgery in order to address the problems. However it is the notably increased failure rate of the small devices that creates an additional threat to petite female patients around the world. Because the true scope of the risk of implant surgery was never made clear to them, they were in no position to understand or consent to receiving the dangerous device.